Threat of weapons at Bend High prompts massive police response

Published 1:37 pm Thursday, February 9, 2023

More than two dozen law enforcement officers, many armed with rifles, searched Bend High School on Thursday after a man called police saying he was in the school parking lot with weapons and was going into the school.

No weapons were found as of Thursday afternoon, said Sheila Miller, Bend Police spokesperson.

Police were still investigating but had not made any arrests at that time.

“We have found no evidence of a credible threat,” Miller said in front of the school near at least a dozen police cars, some with their lights flashing. Police are using forensic techniques to trace the call and track down a suspect, Miller said.

The threat prompted Bend-La Pine Schools to place all Bend area high schools in a “secure” status. The secure status lasted from about 1:15 p.m. to 2:19 p.m. “Out of an abundance of caution, police presence will be increased around schools for the rest of the afternoon,” the district said in a text to parents at 2:27 p.m.

Bend Police officers were dispatched at 1:16 p.m. A police school resource officer was at the school when the first call was made.

“Additional Bend Police officers responded to the high school within three minutes,” Bend Police said a news release. “Over the course of approximately an hour, police conducted a thorough search of the entire campus both on foot and with the use of unmanned aerial systems, including outbuildings, classrooms and fields.”

Police later found an unattended bag near the school parking lot after students had been released from the school. Out of caution, an Oregon State Police explosives unit was called to examine it, Miller said.

Police taped off the area around the bag and directed remaining students away from the area, but state police quickly determined that the bag was not a threat.

“Officers also responded to other schools in the district to ensure there were no threats on those campuses,” the release said. “The public should expect a continued law enforcement presence at Bend High and other schools in the area on Friday.”

Whitney Tone, a senior at Bend High School, was eating lunch in the cafeteria Thursday afternoon when teachers told them they were in a “secure drill.”

“I was kind of confused. I thought it was just like a drill, and then we saw a bunch of videos from kids who were outside with a bunch of police with big guns and SWAT,” Tone said.

None of the teachers knew what was happening either, but they remained calm, she said.

Rumors of a robbery, a bomb threat or even someone with a gun circulated around the cafeteria, Tone said. Sadie Silberfein, a 14-year-old student who was also in the lunchroom, said she believed the threat. She said many of the students around her began crying.

Tone’s younger brother is a freshman. She texted her dad to let him know both she and her brother were OK, Tone said.

Silberfein called her dad and told him she loved him. When students began to head back to class, Silberfein decided she didn’t want to stay at school for the rest of the day because she was concerned about the possibility of another lockdown.

“Secure status” is declared when a threat or potential threat is outside of a school, whereas a lockdown status is when a threat is inside of a school, according to Julianne Repman, the school district’s director of safety.

The schools’ “secure” status lifted right before 2:15, according to Scott Maben, the director of communications for Bend-La Pine Schools.

Bear Creek Elementary School releases students around 2:15 everyday, so there was a slight disruption to its operations, Maben said.

Community sensitivity to gun violence is particularly heightened after a shooting at a Bend Safeway grocery store in August that left three dead, including the gunman.

The threat on Thursday drew dozens of people to the streets around the high school, despite police asking parents to stay away. Among them was Levi and Jacey Faulkner, who had heard from their child, a sophomore, that students were locked in a classroom with the shades drawn.

“With the history of what happens at school, we’re scared,” Levi Faulkner said.

As law enforcement vehicles began to leave, Karina Procknow, who works locally in retail, breathed a sigh of relief.

She was standing outside the school when she heard from her husband that her son had said he was heading back to class. His next concern, she said, was whether there would be baseball practice later that day.

“I felt good that Bend PD was right on it,” she said.